Rubbinns wrote on Sep 15
th, 2014 at 3:17pm:
Divine Might mostly, Primal Scream, and if 12ftr Power Surge.
Primal Scream also boosts CON for the same amount; Power Surge is unavailable for 12bard/6fi/2fvs.
Divine Might is a good chunk, that I concede, I just completely forgot about 2FVS giving access to Warpriest. My bad.
Zaphear wrote on Sep 15
th, 2014 at 4:18pm:
You're delusional and/or not playing the same game as me if you can't get Str astronomically higher than Cha/Con/Dex.. without gimping yourself.
I'm only talking about Swashbuckler build, not about STR in general.
The only source of your extra STR for a Swashbuckler really is Divine Might (Tenser's, Completionist, bard song if you go 15 bard, boost both DEX and CON, and Primal Scream also boosts CON).
Let's calculate this CHA bonus (and please, correct me if I miss something):
16 Half-Orc race start
+5 tome
+15 items (11enh+1exc+3ins)
+2 guild
+1 litany
+2 yugo
+2 store potion
+4 abishai cookies47 CHA for +19 modifier.
You get +19 insightful STR, which translates into +10dmg.
At the same time a CON-based dwarf with TYWA can get the same CON, but insight bonus is only +4 (Eidolon) instead of +19, making it only +2dmg. But he also gets +4dmg from racial enhancements (handaxes/lightpicks work nicely for swashbuckler), which are unavailable for a half-orc. So you're at -4 damage in comparison with STR-based build - but have more hitpoints.
With DEX build it's almost the same as CON, but without Primal Scream, so we lose out on 5 DEX (i.e. 3 less dmg), but DEX built Elf can get Grace and a different Twist (such as, say, Reign or Hail of Blows), which can add a good chunk of damage - it's harder to compare to -7dmg, but not "astronomically higher". And you're getting your no-fail Evasion in the process.
CHA based build is lower damage, no contest. It trades damage for CC.
DM-based STR build still wins, not only in raw numbers, but in enhancement flexibility, but not by a HUGE margin. So while technically you're correct, and you can get STR 'astronomically' higher, the damage difference is less pronounced.